Huntley claims Jacobs tournament crown

Huntley claims Jacobs tournament crown

The 6-foot-6 sophomore forward did exactly the same thing against Crystal Lake Central Friday in the finals of the Jacobs Christmas Tournament that he did a month earlier to Dundee-Crown in the finals of Sycamores Strombom Thanksgiving tournament. Egekeze took control with his team struggling, got them the lead, and then the Red Raiders did the rest behind Bryce Only, Troy Miller, and Justin Frederick for a 55-49 victory.

The loss was the first of the season for Central.

Its always nice to have that type of talent on your team, Huntley coach Marty Manning said. He kind of got us back in the game.

Huntley (10-1) trailed by as much as eight in the first quarter, but Egekeze started working inside after the Red Raiders fell behind 19-13 early in the second quarter. He hit six second-quarter field goals in seven attempts to score 12 of his game-high 21 points then, and Huntley took a 28-25 halftime lead.

Once (Centrals) Kyle Fleck got two fouls, and we knew Amanze had a definite height advantage, we wanted to get the ball into him as much as possible and he took advantage of it, Manning said.

In the second half, Only and Frederick hit buckets right away to expand the lead to seven and it never got below four again.

I thought Troy and Bryce and Justin got our lead up for us in the second half, but without Amanze doing what he did in the second quarter, we probably would have been down eight at the half.

Miller had 13 points, Only nine and Frederick eight points and six boards. Only hit four straight points afer Central cut the deficit to 49-43 and then the Red Raiders were shooting free throws the rest of the way.

They were much more fundamental than we were tonight, Central coach Rich Czezlawski said. That and we didnt have an answer for Amanze.

Blackhawks edge out Senators in shootout: 'It was really nice to get a win'

Blackhawks edge out Senators in shootout: 'It was really nice to get a win'

It was a rare sight to see the Blackhawks in a shootout on Wednesday night.

It was just the second time this season — and first time at the United Center — that the Blackhawks made it past 3-on-3 overtime.

The last came on Dec. 2, 2017, a 3-2 shootout loss to the Stars in Dallas. On Wednesday night, the Blackhawks were on the other end, beating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in a seven-round shootout. Nick Schmaltz netted the game-winner.

"We'll take it," coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought we had a decent game tonight. Overtime not so good, I liked the shootout victory, Fors made some big saves for us particularly as the game got deeper. Our third was OK, I thought our first two were way better, and overtime we gave up some high quality, some bells were rings for a bit there. But it was nice to see the shootout win."

Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, recording another multi-point game, his 16th of the season.

"I mean we need every point we can get at this point," Kane said. "There's still belief in this locker room. Obviously we need to go on quite a run and have a big record here down the stretch. But take it a game at a time and nice to get two points."

Anton Forsberg was a big reason the Blackhawks even recorded those two points. The 25-year-old netminder stopped 34 of 36 shots and made a handful of big saves down the stretch.

"It was really nice to get a win for sure," Forsberg said. "I would love to have a lot more wins, but right now just gotta look forward and get as many wins as possible."

Added Quenneville: "I think it was good for him to win a game the way he did. Lot of shots were on the line, as we progressed, got deeper, hitting the point first was big for him and for us and then finding a way to get the extra one was a good win."